Keto Coffee Cake
Published September 17, 2021 • Updated March 2, 2026
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I make this keto coffee cake with almond flour, coconut oil, and a splash of apple cider vinegar for lift. The crumb is moist and buttery, and it's completely dairy-free.
I’ve been making this almond flour coffee cake for years, and it’s the one I come back to when I want something sweet with my morning cup. The crumb is soft and buttery without any dairy, which started as a necessity (dairy gives me inflammation) and turned into a preference. Coconut oil does the heavy lifting, and once you cream it with the sweetener, the batter bakes up spongy and tender.
What makes this recipe different is the apple cider vinegar. It reacts with the baking soda to create lift, doing the same job buttermilk does in traditional recipes without any dairy. The cake rises evenly and the crumb holds together well.
I bake mine in a 3-cup bundt pan, which gives you the classic shape without making a huge batch. If you want a full-size bundt, double everything and add 15-20 minutes to the bake time. I’ve also made these as muffins (20-25 minutes at the same temperature), and they’re great for grabbing on the way out. If you’re rotating through keto breakfast recipes, this one meal-preps better than most.
The topping is a simple pecan icing: melted butter, powdered sweetener, and a splash of nut milk, whisked together and drizzled over the warm cake. I like this better than streusel because it soaks into the top layer just enough to create a thin, sweet crust that cracks when you slice it. If you want streusel instead, the crumb topping from my cinnamon roll version works perfectly here. You can also skip the topping entirely and serve slices with strawberry sauce on the side.
Storage is simple. I bake on Sunday and it stays moist through Friday in the fridge. The coconut oil and almond flour combo doesn’t dry out the way regular cake does, so meal prepping this for the whole week actually works. It freezes well too. I wrap slices in parchment and foil for up to three months.
If you like baking with almond flour, my flourless chocolate cake uses a similar base and keeps well in the fridge too. Both recipes prove that almond flour bakes don’t have to dry out or crumble apart when you get the fat ratio right.
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Keto Coffee Cake Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil -
3/4 cup golden brown sugar free sweetener
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2 eggs
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1 1/4 cup almond flour
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1/4 cup coconut flour
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1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon baking soda
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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1/2 cup nut milk
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2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
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1 teaspoon vanilla
Sugar Free Glaze Ingredients
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2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
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1/4 cup powdered sugar free sweetener
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1 tablespoon nut milk
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1/3 cup sliced almonds
Step by Step Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
Prepare the pan and preheat oven
Spray a 3 cup bundt pan with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Sweeten coconut oil
In a large bowl, cream together coconut oil and golden sugar free sweetener with an electric mixer.
Add eggs
Add eggs one at a time and mix after each addition. Set bowl aside.
Mix dry ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add dry ingredients to wet
Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the egg and coconut oil mixture. Stir in nut milk, apple cider vinegar and vanilla.
Baking instructions
Scoop cake batter into prepared Bundt cake pan or baking dish. Fill to 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until cake is set. Remove from oven. Let cool for several minutes before flipping upside down to release from the Bundt pan.
Make the icing
In a small bowl, combine melted butter, powdered sweetener and nut milk. Mix until desired consistency. Add more nut milk if you need to thin out more. If too thin, add more sweetener. Drizzle on warm cake and top with sliced almonds or other nuts. Serve with your favorite coffee.
Nutrition disclaimer
The nutrition information provided is an estimate and is for informational purposes only. I am a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); however, this content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or other qualified health provider before making any lifestyle changes or beginning a new nutrition program.
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Get My Macros + Recipes →Frequently Asked Questions
Can I freeze this cake?
I freeze slices all the time. I wrap each one in parchment first, then foil, and they keep for about three months. When I want one, I either pull it out the night before or reheat from frozen at 300 degrees for 10 minutes. The texture comes back really close to fresh, especially if you warm it in the oven instead of the microwave.
Can I make this as muffins instead of a bundt cake?
I make the muffin version more often than the bundt, honestly. Same batter, same 325 degrees, just pour into a greased 12-cup muffin tin and start checking at 20 minutes. Mine are usually done around 22. They're easier to grab from the fridge for a quick breakfast, and each one is already portioned.
How do I keep the streusel or top from browning too fast?
I've had this happen a few times, especially when I use a darker pan. If the top starts getting dark before the center is set, I tent a piece of foil loosely over the cake for the last 10-15 minutes. That lets the inside finish baking without burning the outside. Keep the foil loose so steam can escape.
Can I add a cinnamon streusel instead of the icing?
I've done both, and they're good in different ways. For a cinnamon streusel, I mix almond flour, softened butter, cinnamon, and powdered sweetener into crumbs and press them on top before baking. The icing soaks in and gives you a sweet, crackly crust. The streusel stays crunchy on top. My preference changes depending on my mood, but I reach for the icing more often because it's faster.
What sweetener works best in this recipe?
I use a golden brown sugar-free sweetener for the batter because it gives the cake a warmer, almost caramel-like flavor. Any keto sweetener works though. For the icing, I switch to powdered so it dissolves smoothly. If you only have granular erythritol or monk fruit, just blend it to a powder first before mixing the icing.
Can I use a regular cake pan instead of a bundt pan?
I've made this in a standard 8x8 pan and it works fine. The bake time runs about the same, maybe a few minutes less since the batter spreads thinner. I've also used a loaf pan when I want taller slices. Just grease well and start checking with a toothpick at 35 minutes.
Can I double this for a full-size bundt pan?
I've doubled it for a standard 10-cup bundt, and it works. Just double all the ingredients and plan for a longer bake. Mine took about 55-60 minutes at the same 325 degrees. I start checking with a toothpick at 50 minutes since every oven runs a little different.
Freeze the slices individually wrapped in plastic before the powdered sweetener goes on. The crumb holds up better than most almond flour bakes have any right to, and you can pull one straight to room temp for 20 minutes or 15 seconds in the microwave and it comes back almost exactly right. Three months of Sunday doubles and this is the only keto breakfast bake I've found where day four is genuinely comparable to day one. The coconut oil is doing that work, keeping the crumb from drying out the way butter-based versions always do. One thing that will save you when scaling up: the apple cider vinegar lift is dialed in for this exact amount of batter, so measure it when doubling. First time I free-poured and ended up with a noticeably denser crumb. Knew immediately what I'd done wrong. Slice into 8, wrap tight, label with the net carbs so you're not recalculating at 6am.
Batter ratio works, but the 3-cup bundt is pretty small if you're feeding more than two people. Eight portions out of that pan means slices closer to a tasting bite than a real piece. Still, the important stuff held up: crumb stays moist without going dense, and the ACV does pull off the lift you'd normally need butter for. If I make it again I'm doubling and using a 6-cup pan. More streusel coverage too, which is where most of the flavor is.
The 3-cup is genuinely small, even for two. Doubling works, I've done it in a 10-cup and it needed about 55-60 minutes at 325, so a 6-cup will probably land somewhere around there. And yes, more streusel every time.
Added lemon zest to the batter. Cuts the richness nicely.
That lemon against the coconut oil base is a good call.
The coconut flour ratio is what keeps this from going crumbly, and my mom figured that out before I had a chance to explain it. She's been dairy-free for three years and usually doesn't bother with baked desserts, but took a piece at Sunday brunch and immediately asked what I'd used beyond almond flour. That question was the compliment. I just added about five more minutes to the bake time. My bundt pan runs a little shallow.
That's a better review than most. Shallow pans run 3-8 extra minutes, I just go by the toothpick.
So I ran out of nut milk halfway through and panicked, then grabbed full fat coconut milk from the can and figured worst case it goes in the trash. The crumb came out richer than I expected, almost custardy in the middle, and there was this coconut undercurrent that paired really nicely with the almond flour base. Pulled it at 25 minutes and the top had this gorgeous golden dome that made it look way more impressive than the effort involved. I went ahead and made it twice more with the swap on purpose and get the same result each time. The coconut oil is already in there so I think the coconut milk just amplifies that flavor in a really good way. I keep meaning to try it the original way to compare but honestly I'm too attached to my version at this point.
The coconut milk probably worked because the batter was already heavy on coconut, between the oil and the flour. You basically just concentrated the flavor. Three times on purpose means it's your recipe now.
My daughter grabbed a slice before I had even dusted the powdered sweetener on top, which tells you something about what this smells like coming out of the oven. Made it Sunday morning and she came back twice asking if the coconut oil was what made it taste different because she could tell something was off but couldn't figure out what. I had to explain no butter, no dairy at all, and she just shrugged and kept going. The edges around the bundt pan get a little crispier than the center, which I actually love. Might need to pull it a few minutes early in my oven next time but otherwise this is solidly in the rotation.
The shrug and keep going is the sign it passed. If you want more of that edge crunch, pull it 3-4 minutes early and the whole outside crisps up.
Added a little extra cinnamon to the streusel and I'm so glad I did (it needed it). Also used oat milk because I didn't have nut milk on hand, and the texture was still completely moist. I was kind of expecting to mess it up on my first try but the coconut oil and almond flour situation just worked.
Oat milk is basically the same ratio as nut milk, so the batter doesn't really notice. And yeah, more cinnamon in the streusel is almost always the right call. I go heavier than what's written too.
Made this Saturday morning and my daughter came downstairs, smelled it, and just said 'what is that.' The almond flour crumb held together even when she grabbed a piece straight out of the pan while it was still warm.
Ha, the smell pulls them in every time. The coconut oil is what keeps the crumb from falling apart warm, most almond flour bakes don't survive that grab.
My 9-year-old sniffed this and said it smelled like a real bakery, then inhaled two pieces before I told her there was no butter in it. She went quiet for a second and asked if I was sure. The almond flour and coconut oil somehow nail this crumb that I still can't believe is dairy-free.
That 'are you sure' pause is my favorite part. Coconut oil and almond flour shouldn't pull this off, but somehow they do.
I'll be honest, I was skeptical about the coconut oil instead of butter. I've had enough dry, coconut-forward keto baked goods to be burned by that swap before. But I had a bundt pan sitting in my cabinet that I never use and a bag of almond flour about to expire, so I made it anyway. The crumb surprised me. It's moist, almost tender in a way most almond flour cakes aren't, and the coconut flavor was way more subtle than I feared. The apple cider vinegar does something I didn't fully anticipate (I've used it in muffins before but it reads differently here, the texture holds together better). My one note: mine needed a few extra minutes at 325, the center was still pretty wet at the stated time, but once it set the whole thing came together. Still not giving coconut oil blanket credit, but for this cake, I'm converted.
The center in a bundt always goes last. I go by toothpick, not the clock. The ACV thing you noticed is real, I added more here than in the muffin version because this batter needed the extra lift.
Swapped the coconut oil for butter because that's what I had and I didn't know any better, and now I'm not sure I want to go back.
Butter makes the crumb richer for sure. I use coconut oil to keep it dairy-free, but if that's not a concern for you, stick with butter.
My grandma made coffee cake every Sunday and it's one of those things I just wrote off when I went keto. Made this on a whim and that crumb, soft and buttery despite being almond flour, actually got me. Not quite 5 stars. I kept wishing for a real streusel pocket in the middle. But I wasn't expecting to feel anything making this.
The streusel pocket is doable. I pour half the batter in, add a cinnamon streusel layer (almond flour, softened butter, cinnamon, powdered sweetener crumbled into the middle), then pour the rest on top. It hides inside and melts into the crumb when it bakes.
I've been through probably four other keto coffee cake recipes in the last year and every single one had that dense, slightly gummy center that just isn't right. The apple cider vinegar lift in this one is what does it (I skipped it the first try thinking it was optional, do not skip it), and the crumb came out actually light. Used Lakanto golden and a 3-cup bundt pan like the recipe says. Nothing else I've baked has gotten this close.
Not optional, that one. I almost cut it from the recipe at one point, figured the baking soda covered the lift. It doesn't. Skipping it is exactly how you get that dense center.
I have ghee but no coconut oil right now. Would it work 1:1, or does the coconut oil actually do something for the texture?
Yeah, 1:1 works fine. Texture stays the same, just won't be dairy-free anymore.
My grandma made coffee cake every Easter and I genuinely wrote it off as something I'd just never have again on keto. This got close enough that I had to sit with it for a minute. The apple cider vinegar trick for lift actually works, the crumb doesn't feel like a compromise.
That 'had to sit with it' is the one. The crumb took me more batches than I want to admit, coconut flour absorbs everything if the ratio's off even slightly.